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The year in business: Entergy, ITC Holdings call off $1.78 billion merger deal

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Entergy lineworkers in 2009. New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. and ITC Holdings Corp. in early December called off their proposed $1.78 billion merger, which would have shifted Entergy's network of high-voltage power lines to the Novi, Mich.-based transmission company.
(Nola.com | The Times-Picayune archive)

America is awash in cheap and abundant shale gas, a trend that is likely to lower energy bills for customers in Louisiana and across the country for years to come. Even so, efforts to keep power prices in check continued to make headlines in 2013 as regulators in four states voiced concerns over the potential costs linked to a $1.78 million merger deal between New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. and ITC Holdings Corp.

The following recap is part of a series looking at some of the highlights from this year in energy.

What happened: After nearly two years spent trying to convince regulators in four states to approve the deal, Entergy Corp. and ITC Holdings Corp. of Novi, Mich., walked away from their proposed $1.78 billion merger on Dec. 13. The companies had proposed spinning off Entergy's network of more than 15,000 miles of high voltage power lines and merging it with ITC's national transmission business.

Under the agreement, ITC would have absorbed $1.78 billion in debt. Entergy shareholders would have received a majority stake in ITC with stock valued at more than $2 billion.

What's next: Entergy said it plans to invest $1.7 billion to maintain and upgrade its power lines over the next two years. But it may continue to look for a company to purchase its transmission business.

The spinoff deal was supposed to be the second step in Entergy's effort to resolve a three-year U.S. Justice Department inquiry into complaints that anti-competitive actions by the utility have blocked independent power generators from selling electricity to potential customers.